"The Wheel of Life Caper" old-time radio series The Adventures of Sam Spade July 11, 1948. In this episode, private investigator Sam Spade (played by Howard Duff) is hired by a mystery woman named Poppy O’Farrell, who has completely lost her memory. Her only clues are a troubling encounter on a cable car earlier that morning—where a man aggressively grabbed her arm and told her that someone named Leverett wanted to see her. As Spade attempts to trace her true identity, his routine investigation spirals into a dark, tangled maze of deception, hidden motives, and a suspicious death involving a corpse killed by a buzz saw.